Hello Nasty

This week marked the start of Phase II of the Tri Power program. It's the build phase where I finally start overloading the muscles to try and make some real strength gains. I thought I was already getting a lot stronger, so this is a scary thing. I've been doing the workouts, but last night I had to do my strength training before my regular thursday brick. So I did a half hour of yoga first thing yesterday morning, then about 8:30 pm I made it to the gym.

Did the strength training workout (about 30 minutes) then moved on to my brick. Given the time of day and my energy level I wanted to shorten the brick, so I started with 10 miles on the bike. Did that in 30:31 which is so dang close to a 20 mph pace it's rediculous. Then I moved on to the treadmill.

I should explain something from the last post here. My new foot pain (I think) is neck related thanks to the chiropractor. The last time I was in there for an adjustment Kelley went with me. I was laying face down on the adjustment table, and he told her "watch this. You see how now, his left leg is shorter than his right leg?". Then he twisted my head around some, and told kelley "now look, both legs are the same length again". WTH? The last few times I've been out running, it feels like my head is dipping down with every left foot strike, like my left leg is shorter again. Whenever that happens, the muscle pain (that the doc wants a bone scan on) flairs up worse than normal, and now this foot pain is getting extreme. Extreme in the Axe body spray style of extreme, not like I'm actually having trouble walking kind of extreme.

So when I hit the treadmill last night it was not exactly "pleasant" or "fun". It was more like an evening out with Glaven; sweaty, painful, and you wish you weren't there because you know you're going to regret it in the morning. I was supposed to do a 5 mile tempo run around 6.3 or 6.4 speed. It was actually only 2 miles with a walk break or two thrown in. My right shin tightened up, and that was fairly uncomfortable. But the left calf pain and foot pain and short leg syndrome was the real killer. I haven't had a 2 mile run since I was first able to run 3 miles consecutively early last year. And it felt like my nutrition gave out too. I was chugging gatorade through all 3 phases of the workout, but I guess I could have used a gel before starting the run. It felt like I hit "the wall" for a bit, but not too hard. Still, I was praying for daylight when I hit 2 miles and hit the showers.

The good part of BPD (bipolar posting disorder) starts today. At work today, we're turning live a project that I've been working on for six months now. Monday we present to the client for final approval, then activate for their patients. Basically, I've taken the web form which looks the same for everybody, and changed it into a PDF for their patients to fill out. So each PDF is different, but the processing is exactly the same for everybody. It's incredibly cool.

Then tonight we're going to visit one of Kelley's aunts for a Passover Seder. I'm really glad we get to go to one this year.

Tomorrow I am taking Coach Stu to the Masters golf tournament. He's never been, so it's a real treat. My grandfather got on the list for badges back in the mid 70's, so our family gets to go every year and we split the days up so more people get to go. Today my folks are going with some friends of theirs, one of whom is a professor at Clemson. I've got to pick up the badges from them tonight before we head to the seder. If you're going to be there tomorrow, I'll be the guy in khaki's and a green shirt. Come say hi!

everyone there will be in khaki's and a green shirt, if you've never seen the tv coverage.

Then sunday I'm getting back into the garden for a bit. I've got to cut the grass, clear some sod out, plant the potatoes, and pull some weeds. I've got 70 some-odd pepper plants that I'm in the middle of transplanting from the seed flats into peat pots; need to finish that. I'm also supposed to do a 14 mile long run, but that might turn into a long bike ride if the leg isn't feeling better.

I also got an update on the beachhouse property tax situation. Turns out, only one house has sold on the entire island this year. The lawyer we're using just got a very favorible tax value reduction on his house (he's a full time resident on the island). So this depressed economy means that we will be able to hang onto the house for a while longer than I expected. Great news! We're still waiting on the court date to get the actual reduction, but all signs are pointing up there now.

Have a great weekend! Good luck if you're racing.

Hit it Hard

Wednesday we had some problems with the house, so I had to deal with an electrician instead of getting a run in. Ah, good times. So by thursday morning my nicotine threshold was reaching a dangerous level. Also, wednesday was World Vegetarian Day, so I went veg for the day. This had both caloric (fuel) and intestinal consequenses on thursday. Ah, more good times. It was actually pretty cool to eat vegetarian for the day. I'm not far from it normally, only chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch and chicken, turkey or fish for dinner. 2 of 6 meals a day with meat is a pretty low ratio anyway.

Combine that with some weak fueling thursday morning (only about 500 calories) and I hit the wall during thursday's workout. I got dropped off at the gym because Wifey was going shopping in that direction anyway, so I thought I could work out a little harder in the gym. I did an hour on the elliptical (7.5 miles, 700 calories) then took the bike 4 miles back home. With less than half a mile left on the bike that wall came up and smacked me hard right across the face. wow.

They say everybody hits the wall sooner or later and you don't really know what it feels like until you definintely know what it feels like. Holy shit, they are right. I was biking it uphill on Taylors Rd towards Taylors First Baptist Church when it hit. I stopped in the church parking lot to rehydrate, catch my breath, take off the sweatshirt and regroup. I felt like I was going to vomit, pass out, and crap my pants. The street corners in Greenville are 90% churches, 5% gas stations, and 5% CVS & Walgreens drug stores. This particular church is the one that I grew up in, so it seemed like an appropriate place for someone to find me dead in the parking lot. I'm just glad I made it up that hill to the parking lot. So let's call that one a lesson learned. Fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel fuel.

Having said that, I'm really getting pissed on the weight loss front. 4 or 5 days a week I burn 700 - 1200 calories each workout. Yesterday I weighed in at 203. Monday it was 205. Last week it was fairly consistent at 204. My caloric threshold is 3300 calories a day. Eat less than that and I should lose weight. Since Wifey just hit the one year mark on weight watchers she only buys low fat high fiber food, mostly all natural stuff. No HFCS, mostly organic. Organic gardening is another passion of mine, so we eat a ton of fresh veg from the garden. I have seen a loss of body fat from my arms and legs and around my waist. But that doesn't help my knees, shins, and feet when they are in impact pain. The only thing that can do that is less weight beating them up.

I got this big on purpose. Back in 2001 - 2002 I was really into bodybuilding. I took weight gainers, whey protein, creatine, and plenty of other manmade synthetics. I packed muscle onto my frame and was fairly scuplted except for some belly fat. I did no cardio because that would make me lose muscle mass. So now that I do nothing but cardio, why am I not losing muscle mass? When I stopped lifting weights, I gained a bunch of bodyfat and put on another 10 - 20 lbs. That's what got me up to 235. When Wifey went on weight watchers and changed her grocery habits, I got down to about 195. Now I would love to get back down to 190 for total smoking ripped hotness. I'm 6'1", so 180 - 190 lbs on my frame would put me in the single digit body fat % with decent muscle mass remaining. I honestly thought after 3 weeks of weight loss workouts and closely watching what I eat I would have gone below 200 lbs. So what's a runner to do to lose some lb's? Comment your advice please, it's all welcome.

I've also started reading See Bride Run for food advice. http://www.seebriderun.com/ I really like her approach and recipes.

And finally, tomorrow marks officially 20 weeks until our marathon in Myrtle Beach. So I adapted a Hal Higdon training plan from 18 to 20 weeks (his Novice2 Marathon plan) which kicks things off with an 8 mile long run tomorrow. I feel pretty good about the plan, and I've already got an 8 mile route mapped that's close to the house. Going down East North St from the Fresh Market to Eastside High School (my alma mater) and back again. I should be leaving about 9 am if anyone wants to meet me out there.